Lucknow: Saina Nehwal bagged her maiden international title with a comfortable victory over compatriot PV Sindhu in the women’s singles final of the Syed Modi International India Grand Prix Gold tournament, while national champion K Srikanth went down fighting against China’s Xue Song in the men’s singles final here on Sunday.
Top seed Saina prevailed in the all Indian final over P V Sindhu 21-14, 21-17, while Srikanth went down 16-21, 21-19, 21-13 against the Chinese at the jam-packed Babu Banarasi Das Uttar Pradesh Badminton Academy stadium in frenzy.
China also bagged all the three doubles title in the USD 120,000 prize money tournament, presented by Ponty Chadha Foundation and being conducted by the UP Badminton Association under the patronage of the Badminton Association of India.
The women’s singles final was undoubtedly the most anticipated tie of the day with two Indian players facing off in the Badminton World Federation Grand Prix level tournament. This was also the first time, Saina and Sindhu were facing each other in international competition and it was the experience of the London Olympics bronze medallist that made the difference in the 40 minute encounter that was witnessed by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Badminton Association of India President Dr Akhilesh Das Gupta.
Knowing the importance of a good start, Saina adopted an aggressive approach and raced to a 5-0 lead in the opening game and her superiority at the net ensured that she was seven points at the break. Sindhu did fight back after the breather but the first game was never within her grasp.
The second game was a much closer encounter with Sindhu using her height advantage to counter Saina’s flat tosses. But Saina was in no mood to relent and it was her relentless smashing at every opportunity that helped her consolidate once she had drawn level at 9-9.
Saina was obviously elated at winning her first international title after a gap of 15 months and said the title win would give her more confidence going into a long season. “When you are in the final after such a long time there is some tension. Also Sindhu was playing well and I am extremely happy that I managed to clinch the crown,” she added.
Saina admitted that the semifinal encounter against Xuan Deng of China was a do-or-die battle for her and she managed to scrape through with experience and improving fitness levels.
While Saina returned to winning ways, Srikanth could not master the fast moving Chinese despite coming up with a fine performance.
It was Srikanth, who got off the blocks first and always held the upper hand in the first game and twice won seven and nine points in a row to pocket the first game.
The Thailand Grand Prix Gold champion looked like he would easily wrap up the title when he raced to a 19-12 lead in the second game but Song was not willing to throw in the towel and raised the tempo by playing flat and fast badminton. Eager to close the match, Srikanth went on the offensive and committed errors that allowed Song to win nine points in a row and take the match to the decider.
Song went on to win six points in the third game before Srikanth could get on the scoreboard and had very little trouble in closing down the match in 38 minutes.
Results (all finals):
Women singles: 1-Saina Nehwal (IND) bt 2-PV Sindhu (IND) 21-14, 21-17
Men’s singles:
6-K Srikanth (IND)
9-Xue Song (CHN)
Women’s doubles: Qingchen Chen/Yi Fan Jia (CHN) bt 4-Yu Xiaohan/Huang Yaqiong (CHN) 22-24, 21-19, 21-11
Men’s doubles: 4-Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen (CHN) bt 8-Kaixiang Huang/Si Wei Zheng 21-17, 19-21, 22-20
Mixed doubles: Yilv Wang/Huang Yaqiong (CHN) bt Kaixiang Huang/Qingchen Chen (CHN) 21-18, 21-14
Men's singles: Xue Song (CHN) bt Srikanth K. (IND) 16-21, 21-19, 21-13.
